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WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 221 [Main Title]

Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.

Description: I. 'SPECIAL- POTSDAM CONFERENCE.' British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill and his daughter Mary Churchill disembark from a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Air Transport Command Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft where they are met by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. Brief footage shows British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden disembarking from an aircraft. United States (US) President Harry S Truman disembarks from a USAAF transport aircraft. Field Marshal Montgomery, General L O Lyne (GOC British garrison troops Berlin) and Marshal Georgi K Zhukov shake hands and talk in a Berlin street. Montgomery presents Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Konstantin K Rokossovsky with decorations. General Lyne presides over a drive past by elements of the British 7th Armoured Division. British Cromwell tanks and artillery tractors towing limbered Ordnance QF 25-pounder howitzers drive past the saluting base. British troops sit under a large poster showing the "Big Three". Interior footage shows Churchill and Eden on a tour of the wrecked Berlin Chancellory building. Churchill, Truman and Josef Stalin pose for photographer in the conference room of the Cecilienhof in Potsdam.
II. 'DRAINING FLOODED HOLLAND.' A worker (under British Army control ?) fits a large driving belt to water pumping machinery in Holland. The commentary ascribes the flooding of Holland to actions taken by the Germans during their retreat. Extensive footage shows pumping machines in operation and flooded Dutch farmsteads.
III. 'THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN.' Interior footage shows male and female factory workers constructing Crusader tanks. A tank engine is lowered by overhead hoist into a Crusader's engine bay. A male factory worker attaches tracks to a Crusader's drive sprocket and return rollers. Elsewhere, various types of British and United States tanks are raced across a three mile all-terrain course at a proving ground in an undisclosed location. Extensive footage shows tanks being put through their paces on the proving ground, these include Churchill Mk IV and Mk V tanks, M4 Sherman and Sherman Firefly Mk VC tanks, Comet and Cromwell Mk IV tanks and a Challenger tank with 17-pounder gun. Comet and Cromwell tanks negotiate a steep incline. Elsewhere in Burma, a British M7 Priest self-propelled howitzer (named "Chudleigh" by its crew) fires at unseen Japanese positions. Indian troops fire dug in 3-inch mortars. Operational footage shows South East Asia Command (SEAC) Hawker Hurricane IIB aircraft bombing Japanese positions near a road. A Gurkha patrol enters the Burmese town of Pegu. British infantry hand out cigarettes and food to Burmese villagers.
IV. 'BERLIN.' Panoramic footage shows wrecked Berlin streets. A large picture of Josef Stalin stands next to the Adlon Hotel. Interior footage of the wrecked Chancellory building is contrasted with stock shot footage of its pre-war splendour (including brief footage of Adolf Hitler at an official function). Women Berliners clear rubble from buildings in the environs of Potsdamer Platz. General L O Lyne (GOC British garrison troops Berlin) takes the salute from a reviewing podium as elements of the British 7th Armoured Division drive past. British M3 half-tracks, Daimler 4x4 armoured cars and Humber Mk I 4x4 scouts drive past the reviewing podium. A contingent of men from the 7th Armoured Division march along the Strasse Des 17 Juni to the Siegessäule (1870) victory pillar. The Union flag is raised by Sergeant Major Cole next to the Siegessäule. The ceremony is watched by General L O Lynne and General Sir Ronald Weeks.